


New Beginnings

by billybones



Category: Being the Elite, 新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Genre: new beginning in sapporo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 09:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13521573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/billybones/pseuds/billybones
Summary: Matt and Nick watch the end of New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2 and have feelings about it





	New Beginnings

They decided to watch the end of the match. Nick had tried to talk him out of it, saying they could watch it tomorrow or the next day, when Matt was feeling better, but his heart wasn’t in it. He needed to know just as much as Matt did. Nick got them all set up on the hotel bed, plenty of pillows for Matt to lean against and an ice pack for his back. He settled the laptop on his knees and brought up njpwworld, skipping ahead to the point when Cody had come out. That had been the point when Matt had forced himself up from the place where he was resting in the locker room and made his way to the ring. He loved Cody, but he didn’t trust him. Matt and Nick had been present at too many leadership takeovers to not recognize the smell of ambition and opportunity in the air. Cody was going to try something, if not tonight, than some other night, and Matt needed to be there at Kenny’s side when he did.

Matt closed his eyes when they got to the moment when Kenny pushed him, he felt Nick twitch beside him. Matt listened to the crowd’s cry of horror and grief when he rolled out of the ring, followed by his brother. He heard Cody and Page and Marty all agree that they were good and opened his eyes. He saw Kenny turn his back and Cody rush him.

They both flinched as Kenny took the Cross Rhodes completely unaware. Then Page was back in the ring and so was Marty. Marty was shouting and Hangman was looking at Kenny and then Cody said “hold him!”

When Cody picked up the chair Matt looked away, across the room, eyes prickling with tears. He felt like he might be sick. Beside him Nick was tense as a bowstring.

The rising cry of the audience brought his eyes back to the screen. It sounded like a run-in. For one wild, irrational moment Matt thought “it’s us, we came back to save him” but obviously they hadn’t.

“It’s Kota,” said Nick, staring in disbelief.

Matt felt an electric shock go through him. It  _ was _ Kota. What the fuck was  _ Kota Ibushi _ doing?

“What the fuck is he  _ doing _ ,” Matt said out loud.

Nick’s face was tight and closed off. “Thank God,” he whispered. His hands were white knuckling on the laptop.

The ring was cleared except for the two of them. Kota offered his hand and Kenny tried to crawl away. Matt’s stomach turned uncomfortably, a mix of bone-deep empathy and shame-faced contempt causing the nausea to rise again. Kenny looked so fucking helpless. Pathetic even. Matt couldn’t look away. Kenny had always been so weird about Kota, he’d never really explained what Kota was to him, and Matt had known better than to ask (or maybe he’d just been too much of a coward).  _ Don’t be an idiot, Kenny. Don’t be all alone. _ That man’s pride was going to be the death of him. But apparently Kota knew that too.

When Kota grabbed Kenny’s arm and pulled him around Matt thought they were going to kiss. But instead they were hugging. And Kota was  _ crying _ . What the fuck was happening? What  _ was this? _

“What are we watching?” Nick didn’t answer.

“...but a relationship that goes deeper and beyond friendship,” Kevin Kelly was saying, and Matt was wondering who the fuck Kevin had been talking to.

Matt struggled with the urge to grab his phone and text Kenny, to see if he was okay or to demand answers and an apology. But he wasn’t going to be the one to reach out first. If Kenny had something to say, he had Matt's number. Matt put so much energy into taking care of Kenny. And he didn’t  _ mind _ , that’s what love was after all. He didn’t resent Kenny for needing to be taken care of anymore than he resented Nick when he was hurt. Taking care of someone you loved wasn’t a chore, it was almost a gift. But it was supposed to be a two-way street, and it hadn’t felt like much of one lately.

When Kenny had pushed him...Matt could barely even think those words to himself.

His phone buzzed. Matt almost ignored it. Cody had been texting him every couple hours to “check up” on his condition. But something made him check it.

It was a text from Kenny. Or, well. It was a text from Kenny’s phone anyway.

_ Hello Matt Jackson. This is Kota Ibushi. I need your help. _


End file.
